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Jack Rogue
James "Jack" Martin (born September 29th, 1991) is a British professional wrestler better known by his ring name Jack Rogue. Best known for his time in Sony Storm, Martin is currently signed to American professional wrestling promotion Saturday Night Precision, where he is a former Precision Champion and Intercontinental Champion. Early Life Martin was born an only child in inner city Birmingham, UK, to mother Shannon and father Brendon on September 29th, 1993 (aged 24). In his childhood, he benefitted greatly from his parents' resolve to set him a good example and raise him to be knowledge-seeking and principled, despite their own lack of financial means and chequered pasts. His father was a recovering drug addict at the time of his birth, while his mother is a British Army veteran who suffers from PTSD following action in the Falklands War. James attended his local secondary school, the infamously rough Naughtan Boys' School, famous for its chronic bullying and fights among students, especially at the times of Martin's attendance. He actively avoided brawls and generally stayed out of trouble, but was, like many others, a victim of bullying throughout his school life. He discovered professional wrestling as a fan at the age of 14. He used it as an escape, and, despite the disapproval of his parents, became fascinated with it, deciding early in his life on a career in the business. He had always been intelligent and a conscientious student and left Naughtan with high grades despite the violent atmosphere and poor teaching. His parents disapproved of his choice and encouraged him to attend university after his A-Levels, but he took the decision to wrestle full time regardless. Martin's rebellion at this juncture is reportedly still a source of tension between him and his parents. Professional Wrestling Career Early Career James' pro wrestling training began at the age of 16, at the Solihull Wrestling Academy in 2010, under the tutelage of British wrestling legend, Connor Henson. There he was taught basics of grappling, bumping and strikes which slowly developed an impressive move-set. By the age of 18, he possessed an array of impactful strikes, especially kicks, had developed genuine technical wrestling ability that would then translate into a polished arsenal of amateur throws and elementary manoeuvres and was a confident high-flyer and skilled bumper and seller. This multi-faceted versatility would, in future, lead to much of his excellent critical reception, as it yielded an ability to consistently produce high-level matches with a variety of opponents, without ever having an identical match twice. As time went on, his trainers became more and more enthusiastic and vocal about his skills and wanted him to begin competition quickly to capitalise on the remainder of his teenage years. But due to his determination to not start wrestling publicly until he believed he was fully ready, he wouldn't do so until three years after his first session, at the age of 19, in 2012. By this stage, however, Martin was paying the price for his unwillingness to take bookings earlier on in his training. In a time before the recent prominence of the British independent scene through promotions such as RWK, he realised he needed to relocate to the USA in order to build any serious prestige, and wanted to make enough to pay for a plane ticket as quickly as he could. He took an uncharacteristically risky decision to wrestle for a small, cult hardcore promotion called Extreme Met (short for Metropolitan) Wrestling - EMW - in London. After three years of full-time wrestling training with only part-time work in a local shop to support himself, and with his parents hardly even able to provide for themselves, he had no savings and had to sleep rough in the capital for a couple of weeks. After his first few matches, he had enough money to start paying rent on a one-room flat, where he stayed throughout his tenure for EMW. Extreme Met Wrestling (2012 - 2013) Martin arrived in EMW as a heel, who would attempt to wrestle technical matches with limited weapon use to the outrage of the bloodthirsty, cultish audience. In kayfabe, he proclaimed that he had gone to the promotion to destroy "barbaric" deathmatch wrestling in EMW, and wrestled under his real name. The rules of the promotion meant all matches were wrestled under no disqualification rules, with bumps involving light tubes, glass, barbed wire or thumbtacks occurring in several matches on a given card. This gained EMW a reputation as one of the bloodiest promotions in the world, but still, Martin gained a reputation backstage as one of the bravest bumpers in the locker room. Safe in his conviction that in a few months he would be on a plane to chase his dream, he was consistently able to increase his pay cheques by agreeing to take higher and bloodier bumps. His bravery and selling ability, as well as his effective heel gimmick, made him a marquee heel for the promotion in a five-month tenure in late 2012 and early 2013. It was during this part of his career that he adopted the black half-mask, body suit and pads that would be the base for his heel attire in Precision three and a half years later, in order to protect himself from glass and barbed wire, again to the crowd's outrage. Martin won the EMW Deathmatch Championship after three months of regularly winning matches with small packages or backslides that infuriated the crowd. He did so by reversing an attempted powerbomb into a back body drop, which sent then champion, "Dirty" Jim Taylor, from the top of a ladder through a glass and barbed wire covered table that Taylor had arranged himself. Martin held onto the title for a few weeks until he had made the money he needed to in order to move to the USA, then lost it by taking a very similar bump to that which Taylor took when he lost the championship to Martin, collecting his last pay cheque and concluding his stint in EMW. American Independent Scene (2013 - 2015) Deciding that he had no time to waste, Martin booked his flight to Denver, Colorado the next day and got onto the plane just three days after his last brutal deathmatch. He chose the destination because had already secured an unpaid booking for the next week with a small promotion in that area who were impressed by his EMW work but needed him to prove his capability outside of a deathmatch company. Once again without accommodation once he arrived, he began planning the impact he would make in an effort to secure himself a guaranteed contract. He once again took a risk at a key juncture and became a babyface for the first time, moving out of his comfort zone. He decided on an anti-authority gimmick due to the heel general manager prominent in the independent where he would begin his US career, one that he would go on to feud with. This was why he adopted the ring name "Jack Rogue", which would follow him as his career began to take off. Martin's independent career was characterised by the belief of promoters that his abilities as a seller and ability to garner sympathy as a midcard, underdog face were more desirable than the benefits of using his arsenal and mic skills. For this reason, throughout two years of touring independents in Colorado and then the wider central US, Martin was rarely trusted with championships or main event feuds and became typecast as a midcarder that couldn't handle the main event. However, during this period Martin became a respected journeyman and staple of many independent promotions in the central USA as a babyface. He had some high-profile feuds during the period but mostly kept to touring around and wrestling high-quality matches in the area, often as fodder for stars from around the country and the world to defeat when they needed a win. Martin subscribed to the mindset that paying his dues and building a portfolio of work would get him where he wanted to go and, although it led to him being perceived as less than superstar calibre, it paid off when he was signed to an exclusive deal by the much larger Sony Storm in April 2015. Sony Storm (2015 - 2016) When Martin arrived in Sony Storm, he was remarked upon for his blue and purple ring gear, which was not considered up to the standards of the company. This caused him to be viewed as a joke by much of the audience and locker room, and this general perception combined with the way he was typecast on the independents led to poor perception of him by management, who treated him, essentially, as a jobber. Despite this, his in-ring proficiency and plucky charisma gained him popularity during a constant stream of defeats. However, he debuted in high-profile fashion as a mystery partner for babyface star Andersen Vega in a tag team match against opposition spearheaded by Sony Storm legend and then heel General Manager, Ian Jaxs. Martin took the pinfall to keep Vega strong, and this would start a losing streak that would reach twelve over his first four months with the company. Reportedly, Martin was frustrated at the way he was utilised but had faith that his popularity from his still successful, well-transferred rebel face gimmick would lead to more success in the future and was initially buoyed by his new financial security as a result of his contract. He was used to elevate much of the roster in 2015, Danny Jacobs, Jordan Bull, Harrison Payne and The Blade were notable beneficiaries of Martin's losing streak. It appeared he was finally going to be rewarded for his high-quality work through the losses when he got his first win over The Psycho, but this turned out to be the exception and not the rule, as he continued to be booked to lose throughout the first year of his Sony Storm tenure. Martin, arguably due in part to the way he was used but mostly because of his high standard of promo work and dedication in and out of the ring, was one of the company's most popular stars and biggest merch sellers that year. Sony Storm took a season break in early 2016, and Martin began his second season with the company in his highest profile feud to date, as he began a program with charismatic heel Nathan Carraway. The pair impressed management with engaging promo segments and a pair of inconclusive but impressive matches on Sony Storm, before a blow off bout at Road to the Throne. Carraway went over, again to Martin's chagrin as the heel would leave the company and the business weeks later. Management attempted to appease Martin by placing him in a world title contract ladder match that would be won by Chris Young, but James was still frustrated. He would never get to air his grievances, though, as the company folded suddenly in April 2016. All employees, talent included, were left without work and many weren't even paid off. Many of the directors and wrestlers banded together, with financial help from the Blake family, to form a new company: Precision. It would purchase many of Sony Storm's assets, inherit its TV deal and sign the vast majority of its talent. Saturday Night Precision (2016- Present) Debut and Babyface Run (May-August 2016) While many of his peers had a swift jump to the new promotion, Martin took the opportunity to recover from a nagging wrist injury and arrived a month into the company's life. His debut proved his popularity and value to the company, and Martin reportedly felt much more a much more valued asset than he had with Sony Storm. However, it was decided that he would have to move slowly up the card as much of the locker room had trounced him in previous months, so Martin continued to sell merch and receive rapturous reactions from the bottom half of the card as he slowly, over several months, built a respectable win rate. Once Martin was positioned squarely in the midcard with a near fifty-fifty record, his break-out feud began. Andersen Vega had been absent almost a year, since Sony Storm's last WrestleMania, and had been a close friend of James since he was involved in his Sony Storm debut. When Vega wrote off Alice Xander and kayfabe assaulted Martin with a baseball bat on the same night to announce his return, it began a rivalry that would last four months and make Vega and Martin marquee stars for the company. The feud was immediately elevated by the fact that Vega quickly won the Iron Man Championship, and the title quickly became a key part of the storyline due to the Rogue character's fixation on championships and their importance. The two would promo against each other for a couple of weeks before Martin faced world champion Buster Gates on Precision. Martin would score a victory by disqualification that spoke to his ever-increasing standing in the promotion, and be attacked after the match by both Gates and Vega with a steel chair. Martin's popularity was inadvertently boosted by the short-lived (and generally considered ill-advised) formation of The Monarchy, a faction which held all three of Precision's championships between Vega, Gates and then European Champion Ryan Blake. Martin had his first match for Vega's Iron Man title at Fully Loaded, where the two drew 3-3 in a lightning-paced fifteen minutes, Vega retaining his championship despite failing to beat Martin. Vega cut a promo offering another championship match, on the condition that Martin put his contract on the line, so that if Vega won he would, in kayfabe, be able to fire Martin unless he obeyed the champion’s every command. Martin accepted due to feeling, in kayfabe, like he couldn’t back down due to being a role model. Vega would win the second title match 2-1, making Martin his on-camera “employee”. Once again, he would choose to stay in the company in storyline despite his position, because of a character unwillingness to back down. The following weeks of Precision TV would involve a heel Vega forcing Martin to artificially tan his skin and dye his hair brown, which he genuinely did for the sake of the storyline. He also had to carry the Iron Man Champion’s bags and do his laundry. The in-character frustration coming about due to this led to a multitude of victories for Martin while under Vega’s dominion, which would yield an Intercontinental Championship match against Joseph Diamond at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, in the match of the same name. During the match, Martin was thrown from twenty feet up on top of the Cell through the commentary desk by the champion, which allowed Diamond to retain his title and was the kayfabe reason for Martin’s character change that would follow. Heel Run & Intercontinental Title (August 2016 - March 2017) Later that night, Andersen Vega successfully defended his Iron Man Championship against Antonio "Anarchy" Stark and called Martin out to beat down his defeated challenger. Vega ordered Martin to superkick Stark, but afterwards, Martin continued the assault of his own volition, turning heel and closing with a new finisher, a rolling cutter he would call “Annihilation”. The next week on Precision, an infamous video promo aired which showed Martin in a dark room with a crazed look in his eyes, talking to a camera. He spoke in crazed tones about being freed of “chains” restraining him, including adherence to written and unwritten rules, a goal of championships and a desire to be liked. He then donned a half-mask similar to that which he wore in EMW but with dog-like white fangs painted on, and declared that “what was born in the confines of metal must return there”, declaring his intent to enter the world championship Elimination Chamber match at Wrestle Dynasty and concluding arguably the greatest turn promo in Precision history. The next week, he would wrestle for the first time since his turn and be roundly booed, partially due to fan frustration that he had never achieved the success the crowd believed he deserved as a babyface. He sported all-black, full-body attire that would become synonymous with his psychotic heel gimmick and was a major call-back to his EMW stint three years earlier, in a losing effort to new arrival Alex Hade in a creative decision initially considered baffling and insulting to Martin’s character change and one which meant he couldn’t enter the Chamber match for Precision’s first annual culmination show. The next week, a promo aired backstage between Martin and Andersen Vega, still owner of his contract. In it, Martin expressed his contempt for the situation and Vega, declaring that he didn’t mind if Vega terminated his contract as he was certain of being re-signed. He then challenged his kayfabe employer to a no disqualification match with his contract on the line, which Vega accepted on the reasoning that he would either force Martin back into his place or free himself of the burden of a newly troublesome employee. Martin would win with Annihilation on a steel chair in a twenty-minute main event that led to widespread speculation as to why Martin wasn’t going to be in the Wrestle Dynasty world championship match. This was largely dispelled the next week, a week out from the pay-per-view. Martin inserted himself into a feud between still Intercontinental Champion Joseph Diamond and the only man ever to defeat him in kayfabe, Bill Bronson (Diamond was pinned twice more after Bronson, but had the losses kayfabe wiped from the records due to various obscure technicalities). Martin attacked Diamond with a steel chair and, on the champion’s kayfabe request, was added to his title defence at Wrestle Dynasty against Bronson. Martin would win by pinning Bronson off Annihilation, walking away from Precision’s first season with his first gold in the promotion. When Precision returned after a two-month season break, Martin was booked to lose to two newer competitors, Alex Hade for the second time and debutant Jason St Pierre, advancing his heel character and its vulnerability to anger as he attacked his opponents and staff after matches. Due to the defeats, Martin was set to defend his title against Hade, St Pierre and a returning Jordan Bull in a fatal four-way TLC match. Bull was kayfabe attacked before the match and couldn’t compete, leaving a triple threat. St Pierre would fend off Hade to win the championship after the former champion was dispatched to the outside, Martin losing the title in his first defence. The loss drove Martin to new kayfabe heights of frustration, as he would defeat and decimate CRASH on the next episode. The week after that, Martin would attempt to send a message to champion JSP by, in kayfabe, near murdering Alexander Diamond, brother of Joseph, by hitting a steel chair wrapped around his neck with a second chair. Jordan Bull would come out the next week, his right arm braced and heavily taped, to call out his attacker from TLC. Martin would emerge, revealing that he, masked, assaulted him in an eventually vain attempt to preserve his championship and improve his odds of retaining. Bull would then challenge Martin to a best of seven series with different stipulations on each match due to a desire to punish Martin for costing him a title shot, Martin would accept out of sadistic intent. He would win the first match, under normal rules, with the reveal of a new finishing submission hold, "Into the Void", targeting the injured arm. The second series match, two weeks later, was under Extreme Rules at the Backlash PPV, and Bull would win with his suplex neckbreaker onto a steel chair. After the match, Martin would kayfabe contemplate his situation after failing to defeat an injured Bull, leading him to take his mask off on the ramp and talk, confused and conflicted, about whether or not his actions were right. He resolved to attend therapy and returned to Precision the next week in babyface attire, cutting a face promo and apologising for his actions to Bull, Alexander Diamond and his other opponents. He would then face new arrival Golden Dragon and be comfortably defeated, causing him to snap and superkick a referee after the match, then quickly be remorseful for his actions as he snapped out of his anger. This gave the first hint of his slowly developing, bipolar-esque character. The next week, a segment aired announcing the arrival of injured IWT alum Ivy Hale in Precision as a manager, seeking a “soldier for her empire of fear”. She was filmed in a therapy centre, attacking her therapist then noticing someone else, Martin, in the centre with very similar symptoms. She would, off camera, take him out of therapy and begin to manipulate him, leading him to return the next week as a heel once again, under Hale’s control. With her, he would go up 2-1 in a submission match with the same hold as the first, and then lose a tables match after Ivy inadvertently pushed Bull onto Rogue off a ladder, sending him through a table to tie the series. Over the next month, he would argue with Ivy, conflicted between his normalcy and his psychosis, beating Bull in a Steel Cage match on Precision then losing an Iron Man match to him at Viewer’s Choice to send the series to a seventh match. This would be made a #1 contender’s match for the Precision Championship, and a ladder match, which Martin would win to become #1 contender. He contemplated himself when he won the match, leading him to suppress his psychosis and turn down Ivy’s attempt to have him assault Bull post-match, leaving and turning face. Second Face Run and Precision Championship (March 2017-present) The Precision Champion was Andersen Vega and the match was set for the Bad Blood pay-per-view. Videos aired on Precision of his training and of his therapy in preparation, and he began a winning streak over Chris Young and Mike Thunder as a face, building to a culmination of his own character arc and his long-term feud with Vega. He would request a Two out of Three Falls match which he would win in three to become a world champion for the first time. The next week, he cut a triumphant promo on the other champions, Buster Gates and Joseph Diamond, and their recent deceptions, positioning himself as a popular “defender of the realm” in Precision. As a result, new general manager Trent Kingsley made a triple threat between them where whoever took the fall would defend their championship in the gauntlet match at Gauntlet of Champions, and the winner would be allowed to kayfabe choose the stipulation of their defence. Martin would pin Diamond, but kayfabe choose not to reveal his match of choice until the event. He would continue to establish himself over the following weeks as a main eventer by defeating Alice Xander and winning another triple threat against Reese Glover and Mike Thunder. His pay-per-view opponent was kept a mystery until a contract signing at the start of the show, where Sony Storm veteran Tyson Blade returned to challenge the champion, and Martin revealed his stipulation to be Last Man Standing, a match he would go on to win, to retain his title. The next month, amid rampant rumours about Precision's future and a downsizing of the company for financial reasons, Rogue continued to feud with Blade while being booked strongly, before beating him again for the Precision Championship at Judgment Day. After Trent Kingsley's announcement of a unification match for the Precision and World Heavyweight Championships, Jack Rogue vs Will Neilson to crown a unified champion of the promotion was set for their next PPV, Duality. In a twenty-minute match, Neilson pinned Martin after three Kingdom Clashes and three Perfect Bullet knee lariats. Martin then missed two weeks of Precision due to a kayfabe concussion, and returned with another classic match - and another defeat - against Chris Young, which would eventually win him Match of the Year. The next week, a very frustrated Rogue offered an open challenge, which was accepted by a debuting Kyle Rayner. Martin tapped out the debutant with the Bridge to Victory, a submission finisher which replaced the short-tenured arm-trap crossface "Rogue Lock". In place of a Precision title rematch, Martin was placed into the Money In The Bank ladder match at the PPV of the same name with Young, Rayner and Antonio "Anarchy" Stark. Martin, however, was unable to compete that night as he travelled home to Birmingham to be with a terminally ill grandparent, and eventually to attend their funeral. The match would be won by Stark, who cashed the contract in on Spencer Hyde the next week to win the World Heavyweight Championship in the OMG Moment of the Year. Partially due to missing the Precision after a pay-per-view for the second month in a row, Martin was left without a match for Wrestle Dynasty II. After further financial problems for the company, multiple shows in the lead up to the big event were cancelled, and Martin was eventually announced as the opponent for Tyson Blade in their third singles PPV match of the year, and Blade's pre-announced last match. Martin would be victorious after following a superkick with an inside cradle, retiring a company veteran for the second time that year. After the match, Rogue thanked Blade for his career with the company, and Trent Kingsley announced Blade as a Hall of Fame inductee for 2017. Season 3 return (November 2017 - present) Jack Rogue returned as part of Season 3 for the now renamed, Precision Wrestling, and the usual Saturday Night Precision TV show. In his first week, Rogue sufferred a surprising loss to former World Heavyweight Champion Antonio Stark, after Stark hit Rogue with his own Superkick. The following week, he proceeded to pick up a victory against a former rival of his, as well as former Intercontinental Champion, Joseph Diamond. Currently, Rogue is set to face Will Neilson in a Duality rematch, on the go home show before Aftermath. In Wrestling Finishing Moves * Superkick '(2013-present, as a face) * '''Bridge to Victory '(Muta Lock, 2017-present, as a face) * Annihilation (Cradle DDT, 2016-17, as a heel) * Annihilation (Rolling Cutter, 2016, as a heel) * Into the Void (Reverse Armbar, 2016-17, as a heel) '''Signature Moves * Slingblade '(2013-present, as a face) * '''Northern Lights/Brainbuster combination '(2017-present, as a face) * Gone Rogue (Leaping Mushroom Stomp, 2016-17, as a heel) * Superkick to kneeling opponent (2016-17 as a heel) Other Moves '''As a face or heel * Snap Suplex * Facebuster * Inverted DDT * Back Suplex * Enzuigiri * Dropkick Only as a face * Corner Kick Combo * Coast to Coast * Hurricanrana * Shiranui * Brainbuster * Shining Wizard * German Suplex * DDT * Neckbreaker * Fireman's Carry Overhead Kick Only as a heel * Straight Jacket DDT * Straight Jacket Neckbreaker * Straight Jacket German Suplex * Corner Stomp Combo * Falling Powerbomb * Various stomps to grounded opponent Entrance Themes * "Personal Jesus" by Marilyn Manson (2015-16, as a face) * "The Blacker The Berry" by Kendrick Lamar (2016-17, as a heel) * "The Crazy Ones" by Stellar Revival (2017-present, as a face) Championships and Accomplishments Saturday Night Precision * Precision Intercontinental Champion (1 time) * Precision Champion (1 time) * 5x Precision Award Winner ** Rivalry of the Year (x2) (vs Andersen Vega in 2016 and vs Boaty McBoatface in 2017) ** Most Adored Competitor ** OMG Moment of the Year (for his heel turn in August 2016) ** Promo of the Year (for his promo following his heel turn) ** Match of the Year (vs Chris Young) Category:Characters